Over the course of your college years, you’ll be faced with some of the toughest decisions of your life. Choosing whether you’re going to shack up in the dorms on campus or take on the real world in your own place will immensely change your college experience. Most freshmen opt for a dorm during their first year on campus, but what about the next three (or maybe 4) years?

If you’ve ever lived in a dorm, you know the horrors that come along with it. If you haven’t, you’ll soon find out. Sure, staying on campus has its advantages—like not having to clean up your own bathroom after a night out and one too many cherry bombs—but a place off-campus comes with some unbeatable perks. So say goodbye to the annoyances and hello to your new found freedom! You know it’s time to graduate from the dorms when you’ve experienced these fifteen things.

1. You’re sick of the RA’s telling you what to do. You moved out of Mom and Dad’s house for a reason, right?

2. You’d rather live with four people instead of 80.

3. You need more space. No more living in a cardboard box. Think of all the things you can accomplish without the constant coulrophobia that comes with a12’x16′ cell.

3. You want to graduate from the mini-fridge to an actual kitchen; there are only so many dishes you can whip up with just a microwave and a Pizzazz.

4. You want to poo in peace. Gone are the days of sharing showers and public bathrooms. Skip the flip flops and “poopourri” and do your duty with dignity.

5. Dorms=Underclassman. You don’t want that rep. You rule the school.

6. Your roommate sucks. Doesn’t do the dishes, take out the trash, or even seem to leave the room. We could go on and on, but we’ll save you the frustration. It’s time to get your own place.

7. You actually want to sleep. You’re over the drunken idiots running and yelling down the halls at 3 am. There’s no room for maturity, or anything else for that matter, in the dorms.

8. You’re sick of hearing your roommate (and the people down the hall) dance with no pants. You can hear everything through those paper thin walls, and sound really travels when you’re packed together like sardines.

9. You can finally light candles. Not like you didn’t before, but now the big bad RA can’t write you up for trying to achieve some zen.

10. You want to watch Netflix from an actual couch. Not a dinky futon, either. Your own couch.

11. You want a pet. And you don’t want to get written up for having one, either.

12. You want to throw your own “gatherings.” Not “movie night” in the common room, but a good old fashioned college rager.

13. You’re over the curfew. The streetlights are on, and gosh darn it you’re not ready to call it a night yet.

14. You want to feel like an actual ‘adult’ in your own place.

15. You want the freedom to do whatever your heart desires. Whether that means blasting your music as loud as you feel or running around with no pants—you do you.

Chips and salsa aficionado, Ali Bartmer joined the Rent College Pads team in the fall of 2016 as the Operations Assistant and has since become a Content crafter. Cat mom of one, Ali prides herself in being a Bloody Mary connoisseur and with her Masters from Hogwarts there’s nothing Ali can’t do.